Assalaamu alaykum warahmatullah,

Summaries compiled by a follower of the ‘Blast from the past series’ – Season 2, Episode 3 taught by Sheikh Sajid Ahmed Umar.

Lessons from episodes 3, 4, 5, and 6

1) Never suffer an identity crisis: Know who you are, maintain who you are and your stick to your values. From the teachings of the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam), when he was struck by Abu Jahhal. he did not retaliate, or take revenge. He was a merciful man. Instead, he made dua for the Islam of Abu Jahhal and Umar who was persecuting the Muslims. This was his way.

It teaches us not to be passive or reactive to emotion, but to be proactive. For example, the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) performed pilgrimage before he became a prophet by following the teachings of Ibrahim AS. He was proactive. This was his way and he never changed his values.

2) Accept responsibility for your own actions- From the teachings of Abu Jahhal, when the people of Abu Jahhals tribe came to protect him when he was struck by Hamza, he stopped them. He never sidelined the blame. Instead he took ownership for the consequence of his actions which he admitted.
Thus, we learn that sometimes there can be some good we can benefit from, even in bad people.

This is also why the Prophet Muhammed (salallahu alayhi wasallam) said Allah sent him to PERFECT the most honour able of character. To help people grow their good qualities and remove the bad ones.
3) Intention– We sometimes do something with the wrong intention but then fix our intention. It is Allah who guides us to praise him , seek his forgiveness and have good hope in Him.

Hamza’s initial offense to Abu Jahhal’s attack on the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) was not out of anger to protect Islam but to protect his nephew and foster brother, but later he fixed his intention when he went to the prophet and adopted the message. There is no purpose of our creation except to worship Allah so everything we do must be done with that intention. Most importantly, we need to strive to not get bogged down by the actions of the past. We must instead ask Allah to forgive us and convert all our past actions to be for his sake and to grant us the rewards of those actions.
4) Allah always does good: No matter how bad something is or may seem, there is always goodness in it, as whatever Allah does, He does good. There is nothing known as complete evil from Allah. For example, as a result of Abu Jahhal striking the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam),  Hamza (ra) embraced Islam, and thus became known as the lion of Allah.

From the teachings of Maryam AS. She was accused of immorality upon becoming pregnant without a husband. She wished she had died before it happened. At that moment, she did not know that it was a prophet of Allah she was carrying in her womb. She could’t perceive the good in that moment, but later it was shown to her.

Barakah

The means of barakah are found in:

• Saying bismillah
• Maintaining family relations
• Defending Muhammed (salallahu alayhi wasallam) by following him

5) It is permissible to make dua for the guidance of Non- Muslims:  We can make Du’aa that Allah guides them to Islam. We learn this from the teachings of the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) when he prayed for the guidance of Abu Jahhal and Umar.
6) Importance of having a vision: Again from the Seerah, we learn that the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) made dua for the Islam of umar or Abu Jahhal when they were fighting Islam because he had a vision and goal in mind. He envisioned the goodness and benefit that could result from this. Indeed we find that a number of countries came to Islam by Umar (ra)’s reversion to faith. We thus learn that our vision reflects:

1) Who we are?
2) Where we are?
3) Where we are going?
A vision is a phenomena which we live our life understanding the world we seek to create.
7) In da’wah we should always call to Islam: The name of Allah and not our own names, should be raised when we invite to Islam. From the teachings of the prophet (sallahu alayhi wasallam), when he made D’ua for umar, he was not calling to Islam in his name but by raising Islam in the name of Allah.
8) The Quran is the best tool for da’wah: The means of Islam for Umar was from hearing the Quran.
9) Never make excuses for the truth: Elevate the truth in a proactive way. Muuhammed (salalalhu alayhi wasallam) said said Islam will rise and nothing will rise above or below it.
10) Character over personality: Straight after Umar (r) accepted Islam, he went straight to the leaders of the Quraish announcing his embracing of faith. Despite the shame, despite being the one who the day before had been the reason for persecution of those accepting Islam. It is Allah who knows what is in our hearts and a person of character knows that Allah is All-knowing and All-Seeing.
11) Importance of returning honour to family: The Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasallam) said a bankrupt person is a person who comes on the day of qiyaama with a mountain of good deeds but lived a life of backbiting. So their good deeds will be given to those they backbited about and if the good deeds are depleted, they will have their bad deeds add to their account.
Importance of returning honour to family is also seen in Surah Yusuf where Allah refrains from mention the identity of the brother who suggested to throw Yusuf AS into the well but reveals the identity of the brother who reminds the brothers of the promise they made to return home with their younger brother binyamin.
12) Ignorance is a dangerous thing: When a person commits a sin they are ignorant. Ignorant to the fact that Allah He is All-Knowing and All- Hearing. The foundation of Islam is iqra-to read. Allah takes a qasam by the pen in the Quran. Muuhammed (salallahu alayhi wasallam) said that the one who treads a path seeking Islamic knowledge then Allah will make his path to Jannah easy. Hence why Islam stresses the importance of seeking knowledge.
14) No matter how evil someone is it is not impossible for them to manifest qualities of goodness: From the most beloved to Allah are those who offer the most benefit to the people.
15) There are two types of people. Those who pay attention to the signs and those who no matter the sign, will never change. From the lessons of the qureysh, we learn that after three years of boycotting the Muslims, Banu hashim and Abu muttalib, they moved further into disbelief even upon witnessing the signs from Allah that the paper mandating the boycott that was hung in the Kabah had been eaten except for the words of Allah written on it.